


Thin Ice

by Firestar385



Series: The Spellbound Affair 'Verse [8]
Category: Castle
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, F/M, Family, Kid Fic, Witchcraft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-18
Updated: 2016-05-18
Packaged: 2018-06-09 04:15:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6889501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Firestar385/pseuds/Firestar385
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Part of <i>The Spellbound Affair - Alternate Ending</i> continuity, consisting of tie-ins that provide glimpses into the Castle family as Javier and Kevin grow up again.<br/><b>March 2018</b><br/>Javier - Eleven years old<br/>Kevin - Nine years old<br/>Johanna Castle - Four years old<br/>Madison Castle - Two years old</p><p>Wherein a late winter visit to the park ends in a frightening accident for the Castle family...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. On Thin Ice

**Author's Note:**

> The usual disclaimers apply: I’m not making any money off of this, _Castle_ belongs to ABC and Andrew Marlowe, and any similarities to real people or places are strictly a coincidence.

### Chapter One: On Thin Ice

The winter of 2017-2018 had been another hard one, with the last day boasting temperatures in the double digits coming mid-November. The sun had dared to peek out a few times since them, but its weak rays were no match for the deep freeze that had taken over New England. 

The first week in March, spring finally made her first push towards driving out the chill. For a few days the temperature had topped out over forty and the snow and ice finally began to melt. Well… it melted during the day and then froze over again at night. Still, the weary New Yorkers would take what they could get. 

Castle and his stir-crazy family were no different. The writer bundled up his four kids, his pregnant wife, and his rambunctious German Shepherd, and loaded them into the family SUV for a trip out to Central Park. Senator Kate Beckett-Castle was finally free of meetings for the afternoon, and what would it hurt for her constituents to see her out, enjoying the early spring with her family?

Three - ahem, _four_ \- year old Johanna Castle was still high off of the fumes of her recent birthday and set about directing the family activities with more brass than usual. Good-natured Madison went along with her older sister’s schemes fairly easily, and the bossy pre-schooler even managed to goad her older brothers into a few of her games. It helped that Cosmo was easily enticed by a game of fetch with rules so complex that eleven-year-old Javier was at a loss of how to reclaim his pet. 

Even Kevin found himself willingly playing along, to the point of laughing heartily when Cosmo knocked Javier into a deep snow bank and the Hispanic boy came up sputtering Spanish expletives that still would have landed him in an extended time-in if Castle or Kate could hear him. The cursed ex-detective glanced over his shoulder at the two adults, who were snuggled together on a bench while watching their brood romp around in the thick snow. The writer grinned warmly when he registered his younger boy’s look and Kevin offered up a small smile in return, surprising himself at the genuine sentiment. He’d gone through a very rough patch with his father last year, but things were finally looking up. 

“Kev’n! Kev’n!” Chubby Madison tugged on his arm and the nine-year-old glanced down at her pink face curiously. “Kev’n, we got to save Jo!” She giggled brightly and then trudged through the snow as quickly as she could to where Javier was holding down the shrieking birthday girl so Cosmo could slobber all over her face. 

Kevin was more inclined to help Javier than save Johanna, but he put on a show of exaggerated worry for his baby sister and followed her over to the tempest of flying snow. Madison threw herself into the mix and actually managed to unbalance Javier enough to free Johanna. Combined, the little girls could almost pin down their brother in retribution. Johanna had her arms around his neck and she was grinning from ear to ear under her mused hair. It wasn’t very often that she could get her aloof brothers to play at her level. 

“Okay, okay!” shouted the four-year-old when Javier started to get the upper hand again. No one was surprised that she’d change the rules once she started to lose. “New game.”

“I like this game,” argued Javier as he dropped a handful of snow down the back of her neck. Johanna yelped and wiggled dramatically, trying to dislodge the clump of iciness traveling down her back. Kevin plopped down next to his brother and chuckled at his sister’s torment. “Hm,” hummed the older boy as he slipped his arms around his ex-partner and pressed his chilled nose against Kevin’s rosy cheek. “You’re warm and dry.”

“Javi - _oomph_!” Kevin squirmed and kicked and missed a few punches, but he couldn’t stop Javier from burying him in the deep snow and quickly bringing his state into alignment with his siblings’. “Stoppit!”

“Say uncle,” taunted the bigger boy. He rubbed a snowball into Kevin’s dark blonde hair. 

“Never!” Kevin twisted under Javier and managed to sneak a few inches towards freedom. He was grateful for the thick wool coat and layers of winter clothes that protected him from any kind of tickle attack. His stomach was already starting to feel sore from laughing too much. 

His salvation came from Castle and Kate. “All right, little snow monsters,” said the writer. “You ready to head home?”

“No!” Johanna’s good humor fled at the threat of her fun ending. 

“But it’s cold and everyone is going to turn into icicles,” reasoned her father. 

“It’s not cold,” argued Johanna. 

“I’m cold,” announced Kevin, shooting Javier a dirty look. In response to his brother’s unrepentant laugh, Kevin smashed a handful of snow against his face. Javier tried to retaliate, but Kate stepped in between the pair. 

“See, princess,” said Rick, holding his hands out pleadingly to his daughter. “We can come to the park again soon. You don’t want your baby brother to freeze inside Mommy’s tummy, do you?” Kate, content that she’d prevented a fight from breaking out between her sons, was futilely trying to brush the sticky snow off of Madison. 

“I don’t wanna leave!” Johanna crossed her arms over her chest and glared at her father. 

“It’s time to go,” insisted Castle, adopting as firm as a tone as he could muster for his little princess. He reached down to snag her hand. Johanna wailed and tugged on her trapped arm. When that didn’t work, she hauled off and kicked the older man as hard as she could in the shin. The writer let out his own string of G-rated bad words as he clutched the offended appendage and comically hopped on one leg. Johanna took advantage of her freedom to sprint towards the small copse of trees that circled a large pond near the heart of the park. 

“Johanna!” shouted Kate angrily after her daughter. As heavy as she was with child and doubly burdened with two-year-old Madison, there was no point in her giving chase. “Get back here right now!” Johanna ignored her in favor of continuing her play, even if she had to go at it on her own.

“Kev,” ground out Rick between his gritted teeth. “Please go get your sister.” As for why the younger ex-detective had been singled out, that was easily explained by Javier’s sudden disappearance to chase down Cosmo. 

“Nuh-uh,” denied the nine-year-old. “If she kicks me like that, she’ll hit something much more painful than my shin.”

“I’ll owe you like ten favors,” said the writer. “Just please go get her, _son_.” 

Kevin made sure to put all of his displeasure into his huff of acquiescence and look of inconvenience towards the older man. He trudged through the knee-high snow irritably, wondering what in the world he was supposed to do to corral the little brat when her father hadn’t been able to. 

The clearing around the pond was empty save for the little girl running about on the slick surface of the frozen water. Johanna looked like she was enjoying herself as she pretended to be a figure skater, though she didn’t glide very far in her snow boots and she had little grace in her movements. Kevin cursed the bad sense that had driven the pre-schooler out onto the dangerous ice in the first place. 

“Jo! Come on,” he shouted from the edge of the pond. 

“I don’t wanna go home,” replied the little girl. “Play with me.”

“Your dad said it’s time to go,” said Kevin. “And you shouldn’t be running around on the ice. It’s not safe.”

“You can’t tell me what do to, Kevin Patrick.” Johanna stuck her tongue out at him and then proceeded to execute a rather clunky spin-jump. She failed the landing, with her butt hitting the hard ice before her feet, but Johanna was nothing if not persistent. She hauled herself up to try again. 

It was really aggravating to have someone thirty-five years younger than him call him by his middle name. Kevin’s lighthearted countenance from earlier easily drowned in his foul mood as he recalled just _how_ much Johanna irked him. 

“Your _father_ told you what to do. So hurry up and get off the ice before it breaks under your stupid self.”

“You’re the stupid-head,” countered the four-year-old. She crashed again when her feet went in opposite directions on the slick surface. 

Kevin mentally counted to five. “The ice isn’t safe,” he repeated as evenly as he could. “If it breaks and you fall in, I’m going to stand here and laugh at you while you drown, brat.”

“Shut up, Kevin!” This time when she fell during an ill-advised single-axle spin, Johanna landed awkwardly on her left arm and didn’t immediately bounce back up. Her rebellion morphed into annoying screeches as she reacted to the pain. What worried Kevin, however, were the hairline fractures in the sparkling ice, radiating out from where Johanna was huddled.

“Jo!” he called again, this time flavoring his voice with genuine worry. “Get off the ice.”

Instead of wising up and heeding her brother’s advice, Johanna soaked up his fear and started to cry in earnest. “Help me!”

Even if Kevin shouted for their wounded father, what was the writer supposed to do? Of all of them, Kevin was the lightest of those capable of dragging Johanna to safety. “Damn it, Johanna,” he muttered under his breath as he tentatively took a single step onto the ice. He unwrapped his long linen scarf from around his neck and when he got close enough to toss it to his little sister, he did so. It practically landed in her lap, but instead of grabbing it so Kevin could pull her onto less-compromised ice, she sat there and sobbed about her arm and the hissing and popping ice beneath her. 

“Hold on to the scarf!” Kevin didn’t dare take another step towards the bawling baby. The cracks in the translucent surface were getting wider and the ice creaked ominously under his fur-lined boots. 

“It hurts!” cried Johanna. “I’m scared!”

They were running out of time. Kevin glanced around himself and saw the network of cracks quickly expanding. By the time he talked his stubborn sister into cooperating, they’d both be underwater. Very carefully, Kevin crouched down so he could lay on his stomach, hoping to distribute his weight over a larger area and slow the cracking of the ice. With painstaking care, he inched towards Johanna.

He made it to her side and pushed himself up on his elbows so he could see Johanna better. She threw her arms around his neck and wailed into his ear. “Stop crying, Jo,” he snapped. “You have to be brave and help me, okay?”

The little girl, apparently feeling braver now that she wasn’t alone out on the ice anymore, sniffled loudly and wiped at her eyes. She nodded resolutely, waiting for the older boy’s direction. “Okay,” said Kevin, looking over his shoulder to gauge the distance back to safety. “Lay down like me.”

“My arm hurts.”

“Well, next time leave the ice-capades to the professionals.” Kevin pushed himself backwards and froze at the loud groan in their unstable support. 

“It’s gonna break!” Instead of staying low to distribute her weight, Johanna shot to her feet as if to take her chances outrunning the quickly spreading cracks. Immediately below her little feet, the ice splintered and gave away. Kevin instinctively reached out to catch her as she started to fall. He rolled them both to the side, trying to avoid the new hole, and ended up a few feet away with Johanna sprawled across his chest. His frustrated scolding was on the tip of his tongue, but he never had a chance to deliver it. The ice separated beneath them and the terrifying crack sounded like a gunshot echoing through the trees. Huge blue eyes met terrified hazel ones for the split second before they crashed into the frigid water below. 

The ice water instantly stole Kevin’s breath and the arctic liquid closing over the top of his head felt like a stampede of elephants trampling his skull. For a second, all he could think was _cold. Cold, cold, cold_! Like he was back in that abandoned warehouse, kneeling before a tub of water and ice… And then he remembered the little girl still clinging to him. No one was holding a gun to his partner’s head right now. As much as Johanna tormented him, either purposefully or not, she was still Kate’s child and Kevin had to make sure the four-year-old was okay. He made sure that he still had a firm hold on his little sister and reached for the dim light above them. 

He gasped for breath, filling his empty lungs with equally cold air, as soon as he broke the surface. Johanna had her arms locked around him, shaking terribly as she coughed up stagnant water. To his immense relief, the pond wasn’t that deep near their location, and with his boots planted on the mucky bottom, the top of the ice was level with Kevin’s shoulders. 

“We have to get out of the water,” Kevin rasped to Johanna. The air was about ten degrees warmer than the water and despite being soaked, they’ve have a better change of dodging hypothermia out of the pond than in it. “Can you crawl out?” Her negligible buoyancy, somewhat negated by the weight of her saturated winter gear, allowed Kevin to heave her up to the point where her upper body was splayed across the slick ice. It gave away instantly and the nine-year-old barely managed to keep Johanna’s head above the surface when she fell again. 

Swearing at the girl for getting them in this situation in the first place wasn’t going to solve anything. Kevin shoved back the mantra forming in his head - _cold, cold, cold_! - and tried to lift Johanna once more. She seemed as determined to escape the chilled water as her brother, but her scrambling mittens could do nothing to keep the disintegrating ice together. Kevin started to fear they’ve have to break their way through the ice to make it back to shore, but that would take time they didn’t have. 

Finally, Johanna found purchase on a solid chunk of ice and Kevin was able to push her clear of the water. Johanna sprawled on the frozen surface and whined about her wet clothes. It only took her a second, however, to remember that her brother was still trapped in the frigid water. Kevin did his best to push off of the mud, but his heavy clothes overcame his stiff leg muscles and it was all the nine-year-old could do to simply hang on. Johanna tugged at his arm as if to drag him out, but she had no leverage and he weighed a lot more than she did. 

Ominous creaking echoed around them and the tell-tale spider web of cracks started forming under the little girl. “Get off the ice, Johanna,” Kevin insisted hoarsely. “Go!”

“I can help,” she insisted. Kevin wasn’t so far gone that he failed to notice how she favored her injured arm. 

“You have to get Mom or Dad,” he argued. Not that he expected anyone to dare the dangerous ice to pull him out, but it might convince Johanna to at least get herself out of harm’s way. 

“But… but…”

“Go, Jo. Before it breaks again.” To his relief, his sister finally gave him a tearful nod and started to crawl away. After a few minutes, she dared to stand up and when she didn’t immediately fall through again, she started to run as fast as her waterlogged clothes would allow. Kevin watched her with baited breath until she started leaving footprints in the thick snow over the solid ground. Knowing that Kate’s baby was safe, he focused on getting himself out of the pond. 

His thick gloved fingers struggled to find purchase on anything that he could use to pull himself up. When he finally did latch onto something with his fingertips, it left him with his arms nearly fully extended. He had to get his legs, of which he was quickly losing all feeling, to cooperate long enough to give him the push he needed to secure a better grip on his salvation. He kicked as hard as he could and managed to get far enough up to lay his full torso on the freezing ice. His vision was swimming now and it took all of his concentration to pull himself forward just a few inches. 

_They always start with bravado…_

Kevin shook his head and ground his teeth together against the ache in his fingers as he struggled to lift himself over the edge of the hole with his legs basically acting as dead weights against him. “Get to shore, get to shore,” he whispered against the flashes of memory zipping past his mind’s eye. 

The splintered ice that had protested Johanna’s presence gave way under the bigger boy. Kevin barely registered the loss of support before he was once again underwater.

_Burns like hell when it hits his lungs…_

This time it was harder to tell up from down. The bottom of the shallow pond was littered with debris ranging from fallen tree limbs, lily pad stems, and trash. One such branch snagged on Kevin’s wool coat, preventing him from standing fully upright again. The coat was expensive, high quality material and not something that would give way under the feeble tugs of an exhausted nine-year-old. With his lungs on fire and his whole body prickling like the cold was a thousand tiny needles digging into him, Kevin reached for the large plastic buttons holding the coat shut. His stiff fingers refused to cooperate and he was just as incapable of overcoming the simple button as he was of tearing himself free. 

_The begging comes later…_

Kevin fought to silence the taunting voice invading his consciousness while simultaneously fighting his body’s desperate bid for oxygen and the temptation to breathe in the deadly ice water. _Please, Daddy_ … Suddenly, the branch itself gave away and Kevin was able to stand upright and breathe in actual air. It hurt almost as much as the water. He coughed wretchedly to expel what liquid he had inhaled. 

_It all stops when you tell me…_

“Don’t give up,” Kevin mumbled, and if it weren’t for the ability to hear his voice inside his head, it would have been impossible for even him to make out the statement through the chattering of his teeth. At this point, not giving up just meant keeping his head out of the water. He might freeze to death, but he’d be damned if he was going to drown. All he needed though was a minute to clear his head and summon his strength. Then he could try to pull himself out again. 

Actually, a nap sounded kind of good right now. He could dream about being warm ( _not_ about being tortured for information) and when he woke up, he’d have all kinds of reserve energy. The first thing he’d do after he woke up and got out of this god-forsaken pond would be tearing into Johanna for being stupid and stubborn and annoying and…

“Kevin!”

“Leav’me aloon,” he slurred. Just a few minutes - a quick catnap and then he’d be back on his feet.

“Kevin!”

Echoing thuds reached him by way of vibrations in the ice below his left ear. Besides being somewhat hard, at least his temporary pillow had given up on being so unbearably cold. In fact, besides the terrible prickling sensation of his lower body, he didn’t really feel cold anymore at all. 

His nap was rudely interrupted by someone sending slush sloshing into his face and then grabbing him under the arms and lifting him completely free of the ragged hole in the ice. He thought that he’d told his eyes to open so he could see who was bothering him, but the world was dark. Even the rumble of voices swirling around him sounded like they were coming from far away and being filtered through murky speakers. 

Whoever was bothering him tried to set him on his feet, which was just silly. Didn’t they know his legs didn’t work right now? At least the pile of snow he landed in when he collapsed was softer than the ice. Yes, this was a better place for his nap. It’d be easier to sleep, though, if he wasn’t being jostled so much. The constant shaking was making his head hurt and he wanted to tell his tormentor to go away, but his tongue wasn’t currently responding to directives. 

The sensation of someone pulling at his heavy clothes was the last straw and Kevin was able to form a low sound of derision in the back of his throat when his unknown nemesis pulled his sweater over his head. He was too stiff and his muscle responses too slow to prevent his boots and pants from being stolen from him, too. “Nnn.”

“Stay with me, kiddo,” said a familiar voice from somewhere very far way. “Kev? Hang on, son.”

Kevin didn’t want to hang on. He just wanted to sleep. 

_to be continued..._


	2. Warming Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wherein the family recovers from their scare...

### Chapter Two: Warming Up

When the Castle family had journeyed out to Central Park, it had been a crisp Tuesday afternoon. The next time Kevin was acutely aware of his surroundings, it was Thursday morning. His head ached and he felt stiff everywhere, no doubt partially in thanks to the plastic mattress on which he lay. Not only that, but someone seriously needed to invest in central heating. He shivered unhappily. It didn’t take him long to equate the sterile smell of his surroundings, the uncomfortable quality of his bed, and the irritating beeping from behind him with being in a hospital room. _Not again_ , he bemoaned silently. _I hate hospitals_. 

The last item on his list of discomforts was the tickling sensation near his nose. It took a second to pry his gunky eyes open. He was rewarded with a sea of sky blue fleece. Upon further inspection, he realized that someone had stuck a large blue teddy bear in his bed and he’d apparently curled around it during his sleep. The heat rising up in his cheeks as he pushed the childish toy away did nothing for the permafrost that seemed to have encased his whole body, but it drew a few quiet chuckles from across the room. 

“You don’t like him?” asked Kate. She stood and awkwardly dragged her chair forward so she could sit right up against the edge of the bed. She spent a second fiddling with something under the bed, muttering that “there’s a trick to this, I just know it,” and then the rail between them dropped out of sight. Smirking triumphantly over her minor victory, Kate leaned forward so she could rest her right elbow on his mattress and reach for the toy with her left hand. “Alexis thinks you should name him Frostbite. See, he’s all blue, just like you.”

Kevin could tell that she was trying to lighten both of their moods, but storm clouds were drawn to her eyes at the reminder of what color the nine-year-old must have been when they pulled him out of the pond. Kate took a deep breath and smiled warmly at her ex-partner. “How are you feeling, baby boy?”

“Cold,” he replied. _So cold_. “Where’s Johanna?”

“She got to go home Tuesday night,” said Kate. She flipped the teddy bear open and un-Velcro’d its back so she could draw out a plastic water bag. With a little less grace than she was known for when not about ready to pop out another baby, she stood up and carried the bladder over to the tiny microwave stacked under the television. Thirty seconds later, she returned to her seat and replaced the heated pouch inside the toy. “Aw, he wuvs you,” joked Kate as she pressed the bear into Kevin’s arms. Grudgingly, the boy hugged the toy, but only because it was now pleasantly hot. 

“She’s okay?”

“She’s perfect,” said Kate. Tears pooled in her eyes as she thought about possibly losing her firstborn in a tragic ice accident. “She’s just fine.” The senator cupped the side of Kevin’s face and rubbed her thumb back and forth over his cheek bone. She simply looked at him, and her trembling lower lip and watery eyes spoke the volume of her gratitude without her having to utter a single syllable. 

“I’m glad.” Kevin unwrapped one arm from the toy to rub at his eyes. “How come you’re not at the office?”

“Oh, something came up,” replied Kate. Her furrowed brows were a mismatch to her jesting tone. “Kevvie, I wouldn’t be anywhere else in the world right now,” she said seriously. Her voice hitched and she sat upright for a second so she could cough quietly and rub at her forehead. Emotions momentarily under control, she rested against the bed again. 

“I hate that name,” Kevin complained. He pressed his face against the back of the bear’s head to hide how elated he was that his surrogate mother was there with him in this dreadful place. 

“Not as much as you hate hospitals,” teased Kate. She threaded her fingers through his hair. Unfortunately, she was right. 

The door to the room opened and Castle entered. “Of course,” he said, “I leave for five minutes to hit up the vending machine and that’s when you decide to wake up.” His relief at finding his boy conscious again was readily obvious in his expression. He handed off his bag of Doritos and Snickers bar to Kate before reaching down to tug at Kevin’s left arm. Confused, Kevin let him manipulate the appendage until he was able to carefully pull out the IV needle and drape the cord back over the stand. 

“Isn’t the nurse supposed to do that?” asked the ex-detective. 

“It’s in my way,” countered Rick. He caught Kevin under the arms and picked him up off of the bed, bear and all. Kevin instinctively wrapped one arm around the older man’s neck and his legs around Castle’s waist. He suffered through the barrage of relieved kisses and breath-stealing hugs as his father assured himself that the nine-year-old was whole and hale. 

“It’s not fair,” complained Kate, frowning enviously at her husband. 

“Not my fault you’re pregnant again,” said the writer.

“Um, what? I’m pretty sure it is your fault, bub.” Kate’s frown morphed into a glare. 

Between the heated toy crushed between them and Castle’s natural warmth, Kevin began to imagine that he might someday stop feeling so chilled to the bone. He rested his chin on Castle’s shoulder and let his eyes slide shut as the older man’s gentle rocking threatened to lull him back to sleep. At nine, even though he was small for his age, he was too big to be carried around and he’d nearly forgotten how safe and secure it was in the writer’s arms. 

“Please don’t ever scare me like this again,” whispered Rick, his breath tickling the short hairs behind Kevin’s ear. “I don’t even know how to put into words how terrifying it was to find you half-conscious in the middle of a frozen pond.”

“It wasn’t my idea to go swimming,” Kevin mumbled sleepily. 

“I know. And believe me, Jo is very, very sorry. She hasn’t stopped crying since the accident and I doubt she will until we bring you home.”

“I’m glad she’s okay.”

“We’re glad _you’re_ going to be okay,” said Kate. “Angel, I can never thank you enough for saving Johanna, but I couldn’t stand it if we lost you in the process.” She rocked up onto her toes so she could kiss Kevin’s cheek and wrapped her arms around both him and her husband. 

Castle’s phone started buzzing in his pocket. Kate deftly retrieved it and grinned when she saw the caller ID. She held it up for Rick to see, too. “Talk about someone who’s been inconsolable,” chuckled the writer mirthlessly. “Javier tried to undo all of your hard work in rescuing Jo when he figured out just why you were stuck out on the ice.”

“Sometimes I think he likes me.” Kevin yawned and tried to glean what his best friend was saying based on Kate’s responses. 

“Just a little,” said Castle with a genuine laugh. “I don’t know if he’s better as a homicidal pre-teen or a sobbing blob, but at least the nanny doesn’t feel like she has to carry around a weapon anymore to protect your little sister.”

Kevin adjusted his hold on the teddy bear, drawing in the fading warmth as much as he could. “You like Frostbite?” asked Rick. 

“He’s tolerable for now,” replied Kevin aloofly. Castle smirked knowingly. The writer settled for slowly rocking his weight between his feet, content to be silent, as he held his boy and waited for Kate to finish her phone call. 

“Thank goodness both Martha and Alexis were at the loft,” said Kate when she clicked to end the call. “Javi was threatening to take a taxi up here himself.”

“How come you don’t go get him?” asked Kevin drowsily. 

“Because there’s no way either of us could be talked into leaving,” said Kate. “Can you please put him down now so we can both see him?” she asked Rick irritably. 

“You can see him. He’s right here.”

“Just because I’m pregnant doesn’t mean I can’t dropkick you into next week, mister.”

“See, now I’m really not going to put him down.” Castle took a cautious step back from his wife. “Why don’t you buzz the nurse. She’ll want to know he’s awake.”

“Fine, but only because I know she’s going to make you put him down, and then hopefully tear you a new one over removing his IV.” Kate marched over to the bed and laid on the little red call button until a nurse burst frantically into the room, probably expecting a fire or worse. 

Once the initial confusion over the urgency of the summoning was sorted out, the nurse did chide Castle briefly. She then set to work checking her small patient’s vitals. Nothing was out of the normal considering Kevin’s brush with hypothermia, so she left with a promise to send the doctor their way, as well as some warm broth. Kate and Rick each took a seat on the narrow hospital cot, sandwiching Kevin in between them. Feeling tired again, he hugged his teddy bear tightly to draw out the last of its heat and leaned into Kate’s side. 

Kevin didn’t remember much from the point when he’d started drifting off, half sprawled on the cracking ice. There were vague flashes of sound and the memory of being persistently jostled until he’d finally succumbed to the overwhelming desire to sleep. He was curious as to what had happened after Johanna ran for help. “How’d you find me?” he asked, followed by a yawn. 

“We were starting to wonder what was taking so long,” said Castle. “I know Johanna can be stubborn, but not _that_ bullish. I was just about to start limping after the two of you when she came tearing out of the woods, babbling incoherently.”

“There was no use trying to understand her,” said Kate. Her tone was growing shaky again. “But it was obvious that she was soaking wet.”

“And that she was alone,” added Castle. “We finally interpreted her sobs to learn that she’d been playing on the frozen pond and when you tried to help her, the ice broke and you both fell in the water.”

“She said that you’d lifted her up, but the ice kept breaking and you were stuck.” Kate sniffled. Rick reached over to wrap his arm around her comfortingly. 

“The good news is, my poor bruised shin was instantly healed,” said Rick with a dry laugh. “It was easy to pick out your dark grey coat against the white ice once I was through the trees.”

“You weren’t moving at all,” said Kate tearfully. “All I could think was that we were too late. I called 9-1-1 while your reckless father ran out onto the ice.”

“Hey, I’m a lot taller than the kids. If it broke under me, just my knees were going to get cold.”

“It was deeper than that,” said Kevin. He was grateful for the older man, though he didn’t like the idea of Castle putting himself in danger for Kevin’s sake. The man had a family who depended upon him. 

“Well, Lady Luck must have had my number, because I was able to make it to you and back before the rest of the ice shattered.”

“Johanna really lost it when Rick tried to set you on your feet in order to get you out of your drenched clothing, and you folded over like a rag doll. I pretty much did, too.” Kate leaned down to kiss the top of his head. 

“Eh, it wasn’t that much more difficult with you lying down,” said the writer. “By the way, if you never follow one of my direct orders again but one, it better be the one when I’m telling you to _stay awake_. You could have slipped into a coma, kiddo.”

“I didn’t want to be cold anymore,” replied Kevin softly. “It hurt.”

“I know, baby,” said Kate. “Anyway, when the ambulance finally arrived, we were quite the sight, I’m sure. Rick was in his shirt-sleeves, cradling a naked little boy wrapped in his overcoat, while I struggled to juggle a wailing baby girl in naught but Madison’s fleece blanket. Javier was supposed to be watching Maddy and Cosmo, but he was plastered to Rick’s side, trying to see you.”

“I was both simultaneously praised for knowing to try to get you warm and dry and scolded for being a failure of a father by letting you two fall in the pond in the first place,” said Castle. “And the EMT was totally right.”

“Rick…” said Kate, lifting her hand to rub her husband’s shoulder. 

“You’re not,” argued Kevin. “Thank you for pulling me out of the water.” He shifted his weight to lean against the older man and slipped his arms around the writer’s middle. Castle hugged him back tightly. 

“Always. I love you.”

“Love you, too.”

There was a brief knock on the door and then Javier barreled into the room, followed by a much more polite Martha. The redhead smiled apologetically at her son and daughter-in-law when their oldest son skidded into the side of the bed, eager to see for himself that his best friend and little brother was indeed okay. Kevin smiled tiredly at him. It was easy to see the redness and puffiness around the older boy’s eyes, corroborating their parents’ claim that Javier had been worried sick about his ex-partner. 

“Come here, you,” said Rick. He let out an exaggerated grunt as he lifted the eleven-year-old onto his lap. “You ready to stop your weeping willow impressions now?”

“Shut up,” scowled the Hispanic boy. He refocused on his favorite person. “Are you really okay, Kev?”

“Just cold,” replied the younger ex-detective. Kevin accepted a hug and kiss from Martha, who expressed her own relief that he was all right. 

“I can’t believe Jo--” 

“Uh uh,” interrupted Castle, pressing his finger over Javier’s lips. “We already talked about this.”

“I’m still pissed.”

“And that’s still a Bad Word.” Castle pressed his fingers into his son’s side but gave up on the tickling when Javier protested loudly. 

It took a second for Javier’s ruffled feathers to settle, but his concern for Kevin was stronger than his anger at their sister. “Remember how much better it was when it was just the four of us?” he asked.

“You’re a terrible big brother,” said Kate. She laughed heartily and reached over Kevin to smack Javier’s knee. 

“It’s not too late. You can still give that one back,” continued the Hispanic boy, pointing at Kate’s round belly. 

“I’m sure that this time he’s a boy,” said Castle. “I have to be right at least once, don’t I? I’m sure he’ll be much less annoying than your sisters.”

“I don’t know, man. You’re oh for three in the male offspring department,” said Javier. “Though it doesn’t surprise me that you only have girl swimmers.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Castle didn’t relent as easily this time when Javier squirmed against the tickle attack. Kevin grinned as he watched the pair interact. For all of the horrible things that the curse had done to them, there was a few bits of silver lining. Despite the EMT’s misplaced blame, Rick wasn’t a failure of a father by any means. Sure, he’d made mistakes and unintentionally let his sons down occasionally, but on the whole, he’d been more than either boy could have hoped for during their second childhoods. Javier was shining proof of that. 

Once Javier had calmed down once more, the full-size adults digressed into a conversation about the state of things at the loft since apparently Castle and Kate had both been up at the hospital nearly twenty-four seven, save for short journeys home to shower. This left the boys to have their own quiet conversation. 

“Kate and Rick are eternally grateful that you saved Johanna,” whispered Javier. “But if you ever do something so stupid again, I’ll kick your ass.” Javier jumped slightly when Castle pinched the pre-teen’s behind without ever missing a beat in his own conversation. Kevin snickered at the older boy’s expression. 

“You would have done the same thing,” argued the blond. 

“I would have been smart enough to not fall in,” said Javier imperiously. 

“Yeah, it was completely avoidable,” rejoined Kevin. He stuck his tongue out. His mood sobered though as more of his foggy memories cleared up. “I kept having flashbacks to Lockwood,” he admitted to his brother. “Being under the cold water…”

“But you survived that, and you survived this,” said Javier. “Lockwood has been dead for years, and so has everyone else linked to Kate’s mom’s murder.”

“Not everyone,” said Kevin darkly. New York’s senior senator was still William Bracken, though thank goodness he was never taken seriously as presidential material. 

“Well, I’m always going to be there,” declared Javier. “I’ll protect you from anyone who tries to douse you in ice cold water. I’ll even kick inanimate bodies of waters’ ass-butts.” He quickly dropped his hand back to protect his own tush after his slip. Castle miraculously let it slide. 

“What are you going to do?” asked Kevin. “Yo Mama ‘em to death?”

“If that’s what it takes,” said Javier will a roll of his eyes. He was never going to live that down, it seemed. 

The doctor finally arrived and while he thought that Kevin could still stand to gain a few more degrees temperature-wise, he agreed that they could start the process of getting the miserable blond discharged. He gave Kate and Castle strict instructions to keep Kevin warm and to not let him engage in any strenuous activities. That meant more forced cuddling with the fuzzy Frostbite. Kevin pretended to be annoyed to cover up the fact that the bear was starting to grow on him. 

The family collected their meager belongings strewn about the borrowed room and Castle produced a fresh pair of flannel pajamas for his younger son. Before long, they were exiting the hospital and crowding into the SUV. In the far back seat, Kevin snuggled up against his brother (to share the warmth of the reheated bear, of course). His fatigue overcame him about halfway home and he had no recollection of being carried up to the loft and being tucked tightly into his parents’ bed.

xXx

Castle’s voice was raw by the time he lowered the book he’d been reading aloud and set it on the bed beside him. He took a deep breath. When it didn’t disturb the little boy using him as a body pillow, he figured that he’d been able to successfully coax the youngster into a late afternoon nap. He attributed it to his stellar soothing reading voice and not to any idea that one of his best-selling novels might be boring. It had been two nights since Kevin had come home, and no one was especially surprised by the fresh onset of nightmares that robbed the blond of peaceful sleep. He’d seen it coming, at least, given the conversation between his sons just before they left the hospital.

For that reason, the nine-year-old was still camping out in his parents’ room, much to Javier’s displeasure. Castle mused that the older boy should be happy, since it meant he didn’t have to sleep with the baby monitor turned on. Even as the father considered this, his younger boy started to twitch with the start of yet another torturous nightmare featuring ice water baths. Castle was hoping that letting the bad dream reach its natural conclusion would cause them to go away, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to watch his child suffer. 

The door to his bedroom creaked open and his daughter tip-toed inside. Castle smiled invitingly at her and she crawled onto the bed to kneel next to her brother’s knees. “Hi, Princess.”

“Hi, Daddy,” said Johanna softly. She bit her lower lip as she watched her beloved brother doze restlessly. Castle ran his large hand reassuringly over Kevin’s back and he quieted. “He’s still sick?” She reached her little hand out to touch her brother’s sock-clad foot, but stopped short of actually making contact. 

“It’s just a bad dream,” Castle reassured it. “It’s not about the pond.” He enveloped her tiny hand in his large one.

“He didn’t have bad dreams before,” said Johanna sadly. 

“That’s not true, pumpkin,” said the writer softly. “Remember how Kevin and Javi were born to different parents than Mommy and me?”

Johanna nodded. “Yes, ‘cause you adopted them. That’s why sometimes they’re naughty and don’t call you Daddy and Mommy.”

“I wish that was the only way they were naughty sometimes,” said Castle, shooting his daughter a wide smile. “Well, when they were really little, before Mommy and I got to bring them home to live here, they were around very bad people. And sometimes Javi and Kevin have nightmares about those days.”

“I want to punch those bad people for hurting my brothers!”

“So do I,” said Castle. “But it’s not nice to hit or kick people, Princess. Especially your poor old Daddy.”

“I know,” said Johanna in exasperation. “I got a spanking and my favorite Barbies taken away for that. Can I get Miami Beach Barbie back now?”

“Eventually.” 

Johanna pouted but didn’t voice her complaints. She still felt immeasurably guilty about causing herself and her brother to be in such danger. It was obvious in her muted personality and the timid way she skirted the older boys. Javier had scared her awfully with the way he reacted to the accident and she’d tearfully confided in her parents that she was convinced that the oldest boy no longer loved her. It hadn’t been until Kevin had forgiven her and they’d cried it out together that Johanna started to bounce back. 

The little girl sat up a bit straighter then and looked steadfastly at her father. “I’m gonna help protect the boys from now on. No one is gonna hurt my brothers.”

Castle failed to bite down on his laugh, but Johanna didn’t seem to mind his twinkling eyes. “I’m sure they’ll appreciate that, Jo.” Thankfully she didn’t understand sarcasm yet. Castle had to drop her hand to attend to his son, whose nightmare had started to ramp up again. It took a second to ease the boy back into a more peaceful sleep.

“What happened to the bad people, Daddy?”

“Well, a lot of them your Mommy put in jail so they can’t hurt anyone else.” He left out the ones that Mommy helped put into the ground. 

“’Cause Mommy is a superhero,” concluded the four-year-old. “And Kevin is my hero.”

“I think you’ll find that no matter how much they pretend to be mad at you, your brothers will always have your back.”

“Even Javi?”

“Especially Javi. It’s just that he’s equally protective of Kevin and Maddy and Alexis, and this time Kevin got hurt a little worse than you did. It scared Javi and he reacted badly.”

“I’m glad Kevin has Javi to protect him, too,” said Johanna. “Even superheroes need backup.” It was a line Castle had told his daughter repeatedly, especially since she seemed to think that her mother was invincible. 

“That they do.” 

Johanna decided that she was up for a nap, too. She crawled up to snuggle against her father’s shoulder and looked adoringly at her brother. “Sleep well and don’t have any more nightmares, Kevvie,” she said, patting his upturned cheek. “I love you.”

Castle smiled contentedly and stretched his neck so he could kiss his daughter’s light brown curls. “You know, your Daddy has super powers, too. I excel at keeping bad dreams at bay.”

“Don’t be silly, Daddy,” giggled Johanna. “Only superheroes have super powers.”

_The End_

**Author's Note:**

> I greatly appreciate every review that I receive. Please let me know what you think, especially if you have ideas of ways I can improve. I cherish all my reviews. I write for fun but I always want to improve, so constructive criticism is always welcome. All mistakes are my own.


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